Lindsey Vonn finally leaves hospital after Winter Olympics horror crash and reveals how doctor ‘saved her leg’ from amputation
Lindsey Vonn has finally left the hospital after her horrific leg break, but the American ski ace has a long road to recovery ahead of her.
In a lengthy post shared on Instagram on Monday morning, the 41-year-old actress revealed the extent of her injuries and how doctors saved her from losing her leg after crashing at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Vonn said she is in a wheelchair and will remain so for the foreseeable future. He broke down in tears at times in a video he filmed from his home in Colorado, where he talked about how much pain he had already had to overcome.
“I had a complicated tibia fracture, I also broke the head of my fibia, and the reason it was so complicated was because I had compartment syndrome,” Vonn explained. ‘Compartment syndrome is when there is too much trauma in an area, there is too much blood and that area becomes compressed. It basically crushes everything – muscles, nerves, tendons – and dies.
‘Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, cut both sides of my leg, let it breathe, and saved me.
‘It will take about a year for all the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to remove all the metal, then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL. Life is life, we must take the punches as they come.’
Lindsey Vonn is out of the hospital, but the recovery from her broken leg is still in the early stages
Vonn tore her anterior cruciate ligaments in an accident before the Winter Olympics; He said that something he had said was actually a good thing because if it hadn’t been for it Dr Hackett wouldn’t have been on hand to help him.
“If I hadn’t torn my ACL, which I would have in this accident, Doctor Tom Hackett wouldn’t have been there,” Vonn said. ‘He couldn’t save my leg.
‘He saved my leg from being amputated’ I always say that everything happens for a reason… I feel very lucky and grateful for this six-hour surgery.’
Vonn revealed that she also broke her ankle in the accident and needed a vital blood transfusion after one of several surgeries to combat low hemoglobin.
“I stayed in the hospital a little longer than I expected because my hemoglobin was very low from the blood loss from all the surgery,” Vonn added. ‘I was struggling really hard, the pain was a bit out of control and I had to have a blood transfusion.
‘That helped me a lot and I turned the corner and now I’m out. I’m in a wheelchair right now, I’m very immobile and will be in the wheelchair for a while because I also broke my right ankle.
‘Hopefully after a while I’ll be able to stand on crutches, but we’ll see.’
Vonn had an accident during the women’s downhill final on February 8 and was taken to the hospital by helicopter.
Lindsey Vonn underwent five surgeries after hurting her leg at the Winter Olympics
Vonn captioned her video: ‘I hope I explained my injury well enough. I’m not a doctor, so please forgive me if I can’t explain something clearly.
‘When the injury occurred the situation was quite challenging in many respects but eventually the situation was brought back under control. Thank you again, Dr Tom Hackett.
‘It will be a long road but I will get there. At least I got out of the hospital. ‘I love you all.’
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